PROTECTOR OF THE PEOPLE DOCTRINE

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

(NB I originally wrote this post three days before the May 9 elections. I have to make adjustments since a new president has been proclaimed. This is about the basis of possible military intervention. Please read ...)

As the Philippines looks forward to the assumption into office of a new president on June 30, one of the least discussed topics is the role of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), or the military establishment, in all aspects, or every aspect , of the political environment.

As a rule, the military establishment stays neutral from politics.

Article 2, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution says: "Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory. "

Amid the incoming president's posturings that he would eliminate criminality and corruption in three to six months, using the military and police, the AFP has hardly taken a stand or issue a statement unlike the Philippine National Police (PNP), of which its top honcho, outgoing Director General Reynaldo Marquez, unequivocally said that the police would not follow illegal orders.

But the AFP's reticence should not be interpreted as acquiescence to what the next president has been saying, or intends to do. On the contrary, it is quietly watching the current political dynamics and implications of all those posturings during the political campaign.

Its core of experts has been silently analyzing the national security dimensions and implications of the current political dynamics. They have been drawing varying scenarios.

Some military officials have quietly indicated his political victory is not an encouraging development, as it could lead to political instability and chaos.

Unlike the previous president, whom the military establishment had learned to trust after they were elected, the incoming president does not appear to have earned the trust and the confidence of the military as an institution.

The men and women in uniform could hardly reconcile the sordid perception or fact that the next president is a reputed supporter or ally of the arch enemies of the AFP - the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army (NPA) , its military arm, and the National Democratic Front (NDF), its political arm.

The enmity of the two implacable enemies is so severe since they literally kill each other in the battle field, or just anywhere.

They could not countenance the emerging reality that the next Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is an internationally known protector or coddler of the CPP-NPA-NDF, which is the enemy from their standpoint.

It does not make sense for the military leadership, its corps of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, and ordinary foot soldiers to know and understand that their next Commander-in-Chief is the friend, protector, ally and coddler of their vaunted enemies.

To kill the enemies or get killed by the enemies in the battle is a fair proposition for every soldier. But to be led by their enemies' friend defies even elementary logic. It just does not make sense.

Moreover, it is equally abhorrent and disdainful for men and women in uniform to be used by their enemies' friend, ally, protector and coddler to fulfill his campaign promise to rid the country of criminality and corruption within three to six months and commit every human rights violations to satisfy the incoming president's lust for blood.

The Armed Forces is different from what it used to be in the past. It is no longer the ogre that sustained the Marcos dictatorship and the subsequent human rights violations committed to prop up the dictatorship.

It is now a reformed institution committed to the Constitution. It is an institution of constitutional soldiers, whose loyalty is to the Philippine flag and Constitution, not to any particular person or political leader.

Hence, it would allow itself to be coopted and used to establish a new dictatorship.

It is committed to the democratic system, its strengthening and preservation. It adheres to the rule of law and due process. It abhors mass murders, summary executions, and forced disappearances.

The constitutional provision on the supremacy of civilian authority over the military is clear and firm. But it does not mean that any civilian leader could just impose what he wants on the military establishment, particularly if his orders do not have the constitutional and legal basis.

When the military establishment, in its judgment as an institution, sees that the civilian leader is about to commit abuses, it can invoke the "protector of the people" doctrine under the Constitution.

This doctrine allows the military to stop any actual or potential abuses to the Filipino people. Since it has the monopoly of arms, it can use the weapons to stop the abuses.

The next chief executive, although a lawyer, probably has not read the Constitution and does not know and understand the protector of the people doctrine.

He probably does not understand that the military establishment can not just blindly obey his illegal orders to commit murder to the very people it has sworn to serve, defend, and protect.

Now that he has been proclaimed as the next president, he will know the ultimate reality that he can not have the military at his beck and call.

It will be a different military when he takes his oath of office on June 30.